An Army Of One By Jean Twenge

What causes people’s behaviors to change over time? Is it the society shifting as a whole or it is the little things that gradually affects humans? Each generation has its own special traits, and these traits are depending on the surrounding environment-immediate context. The immediate context is words or behaviors that people are using present day have their meanings, which connects to the surrounding environment. There is a time period that everyone believes that he or she is the best, which brings up the idea of self-centered. In An Army of One: Me, the author Jean Twenge, compares situations under the idea of ‘self-esteem” and the society is over-popularized the idea of “me”. This social problem causes the unbalanced understanding of normal tasks and over trended to individualism and self-centered. However, this social phenomenon does not appear suddenly; instead, it depends on people’s living conditions and the surrounding environment, in other words, which it the immediate context. In The Power of Context, the author Malcolm Gladwell, introduces people were living in a negative environment that full of crime and bad behaviors, which results people’s actions are also changing with the surrounding context. However, there are also little things that exist in the surrounding environment that influences human behaviors; as a result, people are gradually changing the environment into a positive way. During this process, people become more selfless and serve to the society.

As a student, I am often troubled by the rigid routines of the school day, despite the fact that I am actually a very habitual person. The constant ringing of bells, lectures, bellwork, classwork, homework, each a daily practice throughout the school year. Although all of these components promote conformity, which will ultimately support the balance of school and societal norms, they also tend to threaten each student’s own unique characteristics. This then poses the question; to what degree should schools encourage conformity versus individuality? Certainly, a level of conformity is required to achieve a balanced society however, the overall structure of the school day and class, including the methods used to teach and mandatory classes,

"Battleground America," written by Jill Lepore, provides a strong history of guns and the way they have changed in the eyes of the American through the years. She proves her point with strong evidence throughout her article, sprinkling it with opinion and argument that is strongly supported. She presents her argument to convince her audience that the open availability of guns allows citizens to undeservingly purchase them by displaying the credibility in her sources, using negative connotations in her speech, and the strength and objectivity only a strong logos appeal can provide.

In contrast to this school can be seen to act as ‘society in miniature’ preparing us for life outside of school. For example both in school and at work we have to co-operate with people who are either family or friends. In school

Jacob Lawrence, an African American artist, produces two best-known collections like the Migration Series and War Series. Showing in the website, fourteen over sixteen panels are the War Series. Jacob’s War Series described his experiences that he joined the gallery during World War II. Jacob Lawrence painted the War Series when he received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1964. Drawing the outline of an object and filling in some uniform color, he was exposing the signified of situation and people’s feeling. War Series: The Letter is an art works I like the best. The picture shows a letter on a black table and a man who presses the black table by his hands. The man is lower his head. I can feel that after he reads the letter, he is very sad. Perhaps,

On page 49 the setting is just outside of Holling’s house. The weather during November was like it alway had been, with a sky so gray and damp, “November ... The day turned gray and damp, and hovering mist licked everything” (Schmidt 49). Also, the rain continued on and on without the slightest of breaks, “The perfect white cement sidewalk in front of the Perfect House was always wet” (Schmidt 49). Not only, the gray sky’s carried away what used to be the azaleas bright blossom,”The azaleas lost the remnants of their white and pink blossoms, and then many of theirs leaves ... half naked and embarrassed” (Schmidt 49).

To the United States, World War II is believed to be a good war, and why wouldn’t it be considered as such? During World War II, in addition to stopping mass genocide and stopping the spread of Nazism and Fascism, the United States beat Japan after their attack on Pearl Harbor. As a result, the U.S. was no longer in the Depression and the United States became a world power. However, in “The Best War Ever,” Michael C.C. Adams argues that as a result of Hollywood’s glamorization of the war, government propaganda/censorship, and the widespread of economic prosperity, Americans were kept in the dark about the truth regarding World War II resulting in the popular belief and myth that World War II was a good war.

Ever since its inception, human civilization has been run by a pecking order; a small group of elitists on the top of the chain of command dictate the social norms for the remaining individuals on the antithetical end of the spectrum. Individuals with traits outside these norms are ostracized and looked down upon by the hierarchy. Cathy Davidson’s, Project Classroom Makeover, promotes the use of customization in the education system to accommodate every students’ learning habits over the current use of standardization and curriculum based teachings. On the other hand, Karen Ho’s, Biographies of Hegemony, is about how one’s environment is engineered by institutions, which in turn establish hierarchies who set standards for society. However, Son by Andrew Solomon describes how horizontal identities, traits influenced by peer groups that separate individuals from their families, are seen as abnormalities and those with such identities are on the bottom of the said hierarchy. Based on Davidson’s, Solomon’s, and Ho’s works, individualism does into question because society forces individuals to conform to the standardized norm in which they are not allowed to have unique identities.

People’s identities are formed by what they hold valuable, at a young age, however, those value can be greatly influenced by his/her surrounding society. In all three essays, Cathy Davidson, “Project Classroom Makeover”, Karen Ho, “Biographies of Hegemony” and Susan Faludi, “The Naked Citadel” the authors share their personal experiences with how different educational institutions operate and to what extent they value and echo their surrounding society. It is evident that those institutions can shape, or in the least influence, their attendees' identities by injecting the surrounding society's belief and influence onto them.

Death; destruction; crawling, bloody men without jaws; and a child in the middle of it is just a glimpse of the grotesque short narrative “Chickamauga” by Ambrose Bierce. Chickamauga Creek is an area near Chattanooga, Tennessee and northwestern Georgia, plagued by war, suffering, and bloodshed from the Civil War (Bohannon). Bierce served in the Union Army during the American Civil War (Campbell). Many Americans then, and today, romanticize war with glory, heroism, and patriotism. Bierce defied literary status quo, creating graphic accounts of war, in an age of sentimentalism and melodrama (Morris). Lesser publicized were the perspectives, thoughts, and realities of the soldiers after serving and surviving in the civil

While there were several works of art that I had liked, the artwork and album finally chosen from Noelle Ocon’s album for this particular study was The Armorer’s Shop by David Teniers the Younger and Jan Brueghel the Younger. The goals for the study of this painting were to delve into topics such as subject matter, spectrum bands used to reveal information about the painting, and conservation efforts in general. As such, this study will start with the subject matter and style of presentation.

In A.J.P. Taylor’s book, The Origins of the Second World War, Taylor disproves the common belief that Hitler had wanted and extensively planned for a World war. Many historians have judged Hitler’s intentions when preparing his military as deliberate proof of his strategizing for an expansive war. The justification for Hitler's military plans, according to Taylor, was that he viewed other countries as a threat to him and the restoration of Germany. As a result, both sides believed the other was preparing aggressively against them. Germany, Britain, and many other countries directed their generals to prepare for war. Taylor uses this to prove that Hitler’s preparation was not peculiar, or specific to only Germany; everyone during that time was preparing for a possible war.

Throughout history there have been a multitude of different empires to rise up and conquer land, along with the people inhabiting that land. More often than not, these empires fell. Whether the empire was quickly abolished, or it maintained power for decades, most of them were over thrown. Anthony Pagden, who at the time of publication was a history professor at John Hopkins, wrote the book Peoples and Empires in 2003 to explain the history of the once “Great European Empires”. These empires included, but are not limited to, the French, the Spanish, the British, and the Roman Empire. One major idea of the content focuses on how these particular empires justified their conquering, not only to themselves, but also to their followers and the people who rebelled against them.

When it comes to schools and education, pushing conformity on students, rather than individuality, has been a concern for some time. Conformity is the compliance with standards, rules, or laws. Individuality is the quality of a person or thing that distinguishes them apart from others of the same kind. In the educational systems, they proclaim that its goals are (1) to help each student gain personal fulfillment and (2) to help create good citizens. Each of these goals push towards the betterment of individuals and society. The goals generally cause much tension in schools because they push more towards the betterment of society rather than the betterment of individuals. Schools would like to encourage students to think independently and pursue interests of their own, but schools also believe that it is right to encourage conformity to socialize. While believing that individuality should be encouraged more throughout schools, conformity should still be encouraged but individuality more.

Society is constantly changing. There is always something more hip and in the now from new styles of hair, to fashion trends, to popular music, and the like, society is always moving forward. The same goes for education. In George Counts’ Dare the School Build a New Social Order?, Counts explains how and why education can change society.